This past fall, Seminary of the Southwest announced that it would offer full scholarship packages to all full-time residential Master of Divinity and Diploma of Anglican Studies students in each year’s cohort beginning with the 2025-26 academic year.
Because of newly increased investments from the Episcopal Foundation of Texas, Southwest’s Pastoral Leadership Initiative (PLI) will now be able to supplement the tuition scholarships residential Master of Divinity and Diploma of Anglican Studies students had traditionally received with more comprehensive scholarship packages.
This more robust scholarship offering supports students by continuing to fully finance tuition, but now includes on-campus rent in Southwest’s pet-friendly housing, health insurance through the Episcopal Church Medical Trust, books and fees, and childcare. In combination with some of the other generous scholarship funds like the Texas Pauli Murray Scholarship, Southwest’s ability to remove the financial barriers of residential seminary formation on postulants looking at seminary was immediately noticed.
One such postulant was Lara Chase from the diocese of Indianapolis. “I had not considered Southwest until I heard about the Pastoral Leadership Initiative Scholarship,” said Chase. “ I knew I would need significant financial assistance, and Southwest became an option with the PLI. Then through the Travel Scholarship, my husband and I were able to visit campus. The students were so welcoming, and the recently redeveloped curriculum took a practical approach to training priests that appealed to me. I thought I would go somewhere closer to home, but I could no longer picture myself anywhere but Southwest.”
“The positive response we have received since announcing this news last year has been deeply gratifying,” said Dr. Scott Bader-Saye, dean and president. “We are grateful that we can now extend access to residential seminary formation for students who may have encountered financial roadblocks in the past. Further, scholarship funds like the Pauli Murray Scholarship allow us to provide additional support, or when possible, admit incoming classes that exceed our usual cohort size.”
Southwest has made significant upgrades to its facility and curriculum in recent years. The opening of the state-of-the-art Bishop Dena Harrison Library in September of 2023 provides residential students with high caliber learning spaces, and the revised MDiv curriculum, which provides greater vocational focus, academic integration, and attention to Beloved Community, has resonated greatly with students and the bishops who send them.
One of the most impactful characteristics of residential seminary is that students often attend with their families in residence with them. As is often the case in a family unit, no matter the broader calling or goals, decisions ultimately get framed around finances. Lara Chase’s husband, Daniel Chase, agrees:
“Thinking ahead to ordination, these generous grants provide future priests the flexibility to pursue opportunities without first worrying if a particular job will let them pay off their student loans. That was one of many reasons that Seminary of the Southwest was attractive to us – Lara will have the financial freedom to choose a ministry based on her calling and community needs.”
“It is important to note that this investment from EFT to cover student living expenses is building upon our other scholarship programs that cover tuition grants,” added Dean Bader-Saye. “Developed over many years through the generous giving of individual donors and family bequests, our general scholarship fund is a key part of our ability to fully support MDiv and DAS students while they are here. It is the tremendous generosity of some of our most loyal donors over the past several decades that has allowed us to truly change the way we can approach supporting theological education in service of the church.”
Southwest continues to receive inquiries from postulants for the incoming 2025-26 class. Prospective students, bishops, or anyone with questions about scholarships or the admissions process should contact Beth Jordan, Enrollment Manager, at [email protected] or 512.439.0357.
